LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap. T^ l5i" 

Shelf ^^ . 

PRESENTED BY 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 

Fiftieth Anniversary 

OF THE 

GRADUATION IN MEDICINE 

OF 

SAMUEL CLAGETT BUSEY, M.D., LL.D. 

COMPILED AND EDITED BY 

GEORGE M. KOBER, M.D. 




WASHINGTON, D. G, ii 



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57244 



DORNAN, PRINTER, 
PHILADELPHIA. 




Introduction 



,f§] "GOLDEN WEDDING DAY" in the practice 
of medicine is an event so rare and full of 
significance that it deserves commemoration, 
and in this spirit the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Samuel 
C. Busey's entrance into the profession was celebrated. 

The full meaning of a half-century of active profes- 
sional work can only be appreciated by those who have 
travelled over the rough and rugged path of duty ; who 
have watched with anxious care over the sick and wit- 
nessed the soul-stirring scenes of the death-chamber ; 
who have faced the fury of a midnight storm to bring 
relief to their patients ; who have gone to the haunts 
of poverty, speaking words of comfort and alleviating 
human suffering ; who have braved the dangers of the 
battle-field and the more terrible but invisible foes of 
infectious diseases. 

What a life of incessant physical and mental toil ! 
What a life of self-denial and devotion ! 

In this glorious service, which claims the heart, mind, 
and hand alike, and where, alas, ingratitude is often 



the only recompense for duties well performed, the 
physician, in the midst of bitter disappointments, has 
but two beacon lights to guide him — his conscience 
and the example of the Great Physician. 

Hence, what a gratification to receive upon the evening 
of life evidence of good-will and approval from profes- 
sional brethren — a reward far more cheering and endur- 
ing than the plaudits of the multitude. 

Dr. Busey, "a type of America's self-made men," has 
always been the friend of the struggling practitioner, 
and the following pages are respectfully dedicated to his 
colleagues, by his friend and pupil, as an encouragement 
in the hours of trial and despair, that they, too, may 
hope to profit by the ancient proverb — 

Non est vivere, sed valere vita. 

George M. Kober, M.D. 




Congratulatory Resolutions 

T a meeting of the Medical Society of the 
District of Columbia, held March 30, 1898, 
Dr. Thomas C. Smith, addressing the Vice- 



President, Dr. Kober, said in part: 

" Many of us are aware that our President, Dr. Busey, 
will soon complete fifty years of active professional life, 
and it will be a fitting compliment for this body to 
acknowledge the event in a formal manner. I, therefore, 
move that a committee of three be appointed to draft 
suitable resolutions expressive of the esteem, etc., in 
which he is held." 

Carried. 

The Vice-President appointed Drs. Thomas C. Smith, 
J. Ford Thompson, and Joseph Taber Johnson as the 
committee. 

The resolutions were submitted to the Society and 
unanimously adopted, at its meeting held April 6th, and 
were transmitted to Dr. Busey on April 8, 1898, the day 
of his fiftieth anniversary in medicine. 



SMEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 
Washington, <Z?. C, April 8, 1898. 



Dr. Samuel C. Busey, 

Washington, D. C. 

Dear Doctor: I have the honor and pleasure of 
transmitting to you the following resolutions, adopted by 
the Medical Society on the 6th inst. : 

Whereas, Samuel C. Busey, M.D., LL.D., President 
of this Society, will in a few days have passed through 
fifty years in the practice of medicine in this community, 
during which time he has faithfully served the Society as 
President, Censor, member of important committees, and 
in many other ways, and is now the only practitioner 
among us who has been in practice so long a period. 
He has always been prompt in maintaining the honor, 
dignity, rights, and interests of the medical profession 
before Congress and the community. His services in 
securing needed legislation for the protection of the 
public from ignorant and unlicensed practitioners ; for 
the protection of physicians before the courts of law ; 



for the prevention of the spread of contagious diseases ; 
and in advocating other measures which he has furthered 
by his industry and influence, will ever be remembered. 
His straightforward and honorable bearing have won for 
him the respect and esteem of his brethren in the pro- 
fession, and his example has inspired others to emulate 
his fidelity. Therefore be it 

Resolved, That this Society takes pleasure in calling 
the attention of its members to such a notable example 
of a career passed in the honorable and conscientious 
performance of its duties of life. 

Resolved, That the Society trusts that many years of 
health and happiness may be in reserve for our esteemed 
President, to whom our best wishes are cordially ex- 
tended. 

Very respectfully, 

Thomas C. Smith, M.D., 

Corresponding Secretary- 




WASHINGTON, C D. C„ 

April 12, 1898. 



Dr. Thomas C. Smith, 



Corresponding Secretary of the Medical Society 
of the District of Columbia. 



My Dear Doctor : In response to your communi- 
cation transmitting to me the Preamble and Resolutions 
of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia 
in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of my 
graduation in medicine, I beg that you will convey to 
the Society the assurance of my appreciation of the 
distinguished honor conferred upon me, and of the 
pleasure and gratification it gives me to know that 
my conduct and bearing through so many years have 
received the approval and commendation of my pro- 
fessional friends and colleagues. 

With great respect I am 

Yours, very truly, 

Samuel C. Busey, M.D. 



Anniversary Reception 




N the evening of April 8, 1898, Dr. Busey 
welcomed many friends at his residence, corner 
of Sixteenth and I Streets, the occasion being 
the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation in medicine. 
The congratulations which were extended to the host 
came from many of those who have been associated 
with him in his career in this city during some portion 
at least of the past fifty years. It is given to but few 
men to continue for so many years in a position of 
such marked prominence as has been the case with 
him, not alone in his profession, but as a public- spirited 
citizen, devoted to all that pertains to the best inter- 
ests of the National Capital, whose history has been 
enriched by his graceful pen, and its healthfulness and 
material prosperity promoted by his untiring efforts 
to secure a better water supply and more efficient 
methods of sanitation. Those who joined with him 
in the observance -of this notable anniversary were, 
therefore, not only professional brethren, but represen- 
tative men of the city. 

The large and spacious home was fragrant and 
beautiful with floral offerings, sent by friends of a life- 



time, as a greeting of affection and esteem, while there 
were notes and telegrams from distant friends, includ- 
ing one or more from the Doctor's own classmates of 
the University of Pennsylvania. 

Among the out-of-town guests were Dr. A. Jacobi, of 
New York ; Dr. Blackader, of Montreal, and Drs. Osier 
and Hurd, of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, who had 
come to pay special homage to the veteran physician. 
Every branch of professional life was represented, one 
of the most notable guests being Senator Morrill, of 
Vermont, whose eighty-eighth birthday occurred a few 
days later. 1 

Among the laymen present the following may be 
mentioned : 



James G. Berret 

Alexander Graham Bell 

John B. Wight 

Rev. Dr. T. S. Hamlin 

Frederick L. Moore 

Rev. Dr. Byron Sunderland 

Rev. Dr. Pitzer 

W. A. Gordon 

Senator A. P. Gorman 

W. B. Bryan 

Judge M. F. Morris 

Gen. John Moore, U. S. A. 



A. R. Spofford 
Charles F. Clagett 
William H. Clagett 
R. Douglas Simms 
George F. Appleby 
Worthington Bowie 
W. F. Mattingly 
John W. Ross 
Beriah Wilkins 
George W. McLanahan 
General John M. Wilson 

B. H. Warner 



The Washington Post and Evening Star of April 9, 



Major Robert Craig 
Charles Moore 
Anthony Pollok 
Jeremiah M. Wilson 
Calderon Carlisle 
D. R. McKee 
J. K. McCammon 
F. P. B. Sands 
Senator J. H. Gallinger 
Senator Justin S. Morrill 



James Morrill 
Monroe Hopkins 
Charles Early 
James H. Saville 
F. W. True 
Thomas M. Chatard 
Frank Hacket 
W. J. McGee 
Mortimer Addoms, of 
New York 



The physicians present were : 



G. L. Magruder 
W. W. Johnston 
Charles W. Richardson 

F. B. Loring 
George N. Acker 
George W. Johnston 
M. F. Cuthbert 

G. Wythe Cook 
Z. T. Sowers 

P. M. Rixey, U. S. N. 

R. A. Marmion, U. S. N. 

L. W. Glazebrook 

H. H. Barker 

W. Sinclair Bowen 

Robert Fletcher, U. S. A. 

H. L. E. Johnson 



A. F. A. King 
Thomas E. McArdle 
James Dudley Morgan 
Francis S. Nash 
Robert Reyburn 
A. Rhett Stewart 
John D. Thomas 
Frank Hyatt 
Jos. Taber Johnson 
T. Morris Murray 
Ralph D. Walsh 
S. S. Adams 
J. H. Bryan 
E. K. Goldsborough 
Leigh H. French 
W. M. Sprigg 



James Kerr 

T. Richey Stone 

W. W. Godding 

Francis B. Bishop 

C. W. Franzoni 

W. B. French 

C. H. A. Kleinschmidt 

G. M. Kober 

Lewellyn Eliot 

Surg eon- General George M. Sternberg, U. S. A. 

Assistant Surg eon- General C. H. Alden, U. S. A. 

Assistant Surgeon- General W '. H. Forwood, U. S. A. 



John S. McLain 
George C. Ober 
A. R. Shands 
Thomas C. Smith 
J. Ford Thompson 
James T. Young 
William C. Woodward 
A. A. Snyder 



In addition to the personal greetings, the Doctor 
received letters from all parts of the country, con- 
gratulating him upon the fiftieth anniversary of his 
doctorate in medicine. The following may be named 
from whom such letters were received : 



Dr. William H. Welch 
Dr. Howard A. Kelly 
Dr. William Pepper 
Dr. J. F. A. Adams 
Dr. J. E. Atkinson 
Dr. John S. Billings 
Dr. John Byrne 
Dr. James R. Chadwick 
Dr. P. S. Conner . 
Dr. J. M. Da Costa 



Baltimore, Md. 
Baltimore, Md. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Pittsfield, Mass. 
Baltimore, Md. 
New York City. 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Boston, Mass. 
Cincinnati, O. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 



Dr. W. H. Draper 
Dr. George J. Engelman 
Dr. Bache Emmet 
Dr. R. H. Fitz 
Dr. Thomas Flandrau . 
Dr. C. H. Mastin . 
Dr. I. Minis Hays 
Dr. Henry Hun 
Dr. E. W. Jenks . 
Dr. A. W. Johnston 
Dr. Daniel A. Langhorne 
Dr. R. B. Maury . 
Dr. S. Weir Mitchell . 
Dr. Paul F. Munde 
Dr. T. A. Reamy . 
Dr. J. C. Reeve . 
Dr. T. M. Rotch . 
Dr. F. C. Shattuck 
Dr. A. J. C. Skene 
Dr. L. McLane Tiffany 
Dr. H. C. Wood . 
Dr. Charles H. Stowell 
Sir William MacCormack 



New York City. 
Boston, Mass. 
New York City. 
Boston, Mass. 
Rome, N. Y. 
Mobile, Ala. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Albany, N. Y. 
Detroit, Mich. 
Cincinnati, O. 
Lynchburg, Va. 
Memphis, Tenn. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
New York City. 
Cincinnati, O. 
Dayton, O. 
Boston, Mass. 
Boston, Mass. 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Baltimore, Md. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Lowell, Mass. 
London, Eng. 





Complimentary ©inner 

TO 

SAMUEL CLAGETT BUSEY, M.D., LL.D. 

ON THE 

3fiftietb anniversary of bis (Braouatfon 



BY MEMBERS OF THE 

MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

AT RAUSCHER'S, SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 1898. 




COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS 

Dr. JOSEPH TABER JOHNSON 

Dr. J. FORD THOMPSON 

Dr. W. W. JOHNSTON 

Dr. THOMAS C. SMITH 

Dr. C. W. FRANZONI 



April 13, 1898. 

Dear Doctor: 

A number of members of the Medical Society deem 
it a pleasure to tender to you the compliment of a 
dinner at Rauscher's, on Saturday evening next at 
eight o'clock. 

Will you kindly signify to the Committee whether 
the place and time indicated above will be agreeable 
to you ? 

This action is taken in view of the fact that you 
have just celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of your 
graduation in medicine, and is a spontaneous offering 
from your friends in the Society, who wish in this 
manner to manifest their appreciation of your services 
to the Society and the profession generally. 

Awaiting your reply, I have the honor to be 
Yours, very truly, 



Thomas C. Smith, M.D., 

Secretary of the Committee. 

Dr. Samuel C. Busey, 

901 Sixteenth Street, N. W. 



901 Sixteenth Street, N. W., 

April 13, 1898. 

Dr. Thomas C. Smith, 

Dear Sir : Your polite communication tendering to 
me a complimentary dinner at Rauscher's, at eight 
o'clock, Saturday, April i6th, has been received. 

It will give me great pleasure to meet the friends 
who tender to me the distinguished honor, at the time 
and place named. 

Accept the assurance of my highest regard and 
appreciation of the compliment of the Committee and 
other friends. 

Yours, very truly, 



Samuel C. Busey, M.D. 



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Present at the Complimentary Dinner 



N Saturday evening, April 1 6th, at eight o'clock, 
the gentlemen present assembled around the 
festive boards, which were arranged in the 
form of a horseshoe, a token of good luck to the 
guest of the evening. 




Dr. A. F. A. King 

Dr. J. Ford Thompson 

Dr. C. W. Franzoni 

Dr. C. H. A. Kleinschmidt 

Dr. Mary Parsons 

Dr. Z. T. Sowers 

Dr. W. W. Johnston 

Dr. Frank Baker 

Dr. Robert Reyburn 

Dr. Franck Hyatt 

Dr. I. S. Stone 

Dr. H. L. E. Johnson 

Dr. Samuel S. Adams 

Dr. Thomas C. Smith 



Dr. George C. Ober 

Dr. L. L. Friedrich 

Dr. J. S. McLain 

Dr. A. R. Shands 

Dr. John F. Moran 

Dr. A. A. Hoehling, U. S. N. 

Dr. T. E. McArdle 

Dr. G. Lloyd Magruder 

Dr. P. M. Rixey, U. S. N. 

Dr. Robert Fletcher, U. S. A. 

Dr. J. H. Bryan 

Dr. J. T. Young 

Dr. L. W. Glazebrook 

Dr. G. Wythe Cook 



Dr. W. M. Sprigg 
Dr. J. D. Thomas 
Dr. D. P. Hickling 
Dr. A. E. de Schweinitz 
Dr. T. V. Hammond 
Dr. E. O. Belt 
Dr. W. S. Bowen 
Dr. James Kerr 
Dr. Leigh H. French 



Dr. H. H. Barker 

Dr. J. Dudley Morgan 

Dr. F. S. Nash 

Dr. W. C. Woodward 

Dr. J. W. Bovee 

Dr. J. T. Winter 

Dr. G. N. Acker 

Dr. Charles W. Richardson 

Dr. George M. Kober 



Joseph Taber Johnson 

Surgeon-General George M. Sternberg, U. S. A. 

Assistant Surgeon- General C. H. Alden, U. S. A. 

Assistant Surgeon- General W. H. Forwood, U. S. A. 

Supervising Surgeon- General W.Wy man, U. S. Marine 

Hospital Service 




OYSTERS-BLUE POINTS 

MUSCOVITES S&uteme 



CONSOMME DELIGNAC 



MOUSSE D'YORK 
SALTED ALMONDS RADISHES 



FILLETS OF STRIPED BASS, JOINVILLE 

POMMES PARISIENNES CUCUMBERS 

SPRING LAMB, MINT SAUCE 

NEW PEAS *'**" 



SPRING CHICKEN, A LA CHEVALIERE 

-*- Champagne, Louis lipderer 

SORBET LALLA ROOKH 

SNIPES 

SALAD DE SAISON 

ASPERGES NORWEGIENNE 

TURBANS AUX FRAISES 

FANCY CAKES BONBONS PEPPERMINTS 

SALTED ALMONDS MARRON GLACES, ETC. 



COFFEE 
CIGARS 



Toasts and Responses 



Dr. A. F. A. King, Toastmaster. 

" Look ! he's winding up the watch of his wit ; 
By and by it will strike." 

i . Dr. Busey, President of the Medical Society. 

Dr. T. C. Smith. 

" Whilst the trump did sound, or drum struck up, 
His sword did ne'er leave striking in the field," 

2. Dr. Busey, Citizen and Sanitarian. 

Surgeon-General George M. Sternberg. 

" Non sibi, sed patriot." 

" Till taught by pain, 
Men really know not what good water's worth." 

3. Dr. Busey, Physician, Author and Teacher. 

Dr. George M. Kober. 

" He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one ; 
Exceeding wise, fair-spoken and persuading." 



4. Response by Dr. Busey. 



ADDRESS BY DR. A. F. A. KING, TOASTMASTER. 

Our Honored Guest and Friends: The occasion 
which brings us together to-night is an extremely pleas- 
ant one ; and I feel sure it is no less so to the dis- 
tinguished guest in whose honor we have assembled 
than to ourselves. 

I beg to extend to you my grateful appreciation of 
your kindness and good-will in selecting me to preside 
over your deliberations on this festive occasion, and, as 
you will see by the printed menu, I am indebted to the 
Committee of Arrangements for a suggestion of brevity 
in my remarks, in their intimation that I should "wind- 
up " before I have begun. 

It gives me great pleasure to add to the general voice 
of the Medical Society my own congratulations to Dr. 
Busey on this fiftieth anniversary of his graduation in 
medicine. 

As years roll by we all like to indulge in retrospective 
reviews of by-gone days, and this leads me to recall the 
occasion on which I first saw Dr. Busey ; this was some 
thirty years ago. 1 I was the Recording Secretary of the 
Medical Society. We held our meetings in the lecture- 
room of the Medical Department of Georgetown Uni- 
versity. During the proceedings on this particular occa- 

1 The incident referred to by Dr. King occurred soon after the reorganization of the 
Society, in 1866, which established the weekly meetings for the consideration of scientific 
subjects. Dr. Busey had not taken an active interest previous to the occasion noted by 
the Recording Secretary.— G. M. K. 

27 



sion a gentleman entered the hall who was unknown to 
me. Very soon he arose and addressed the Chair, and 
I was so impressed with the grace of gesture and im- 
perious oratory with which his remarks were embellished, 
and which might well " command a listening Senate," 
that after he had concluded his speech and resumed his 
seat I jocosely remarked to the gentleman sitting next 
to me, " What was that? " and he told me it was Dr. S. 
C. Busey, whereupon I recorded his name among those 
in attendance at the meeting. Since that time we have 
all, on numerous occasions, listened with rapt attention 
and pleasure to our distinguished friend's impressive 
and finished oratory — one of the noblest gifts of God to 
man. 

But I must not anticipate the gentlemen who are to 
respond to the regular toasts by enlarging upon the 
numerous talents and abilities of our honored guest. 

What a glorious thing is age, especially when it comes 
to us ladened with the recollections of an honored and 
useful career ! 

When the noonday of life is passed, when its battles 
have been fought with courage and victory, we all like 
to see the evening with a sunset of gold and color and 
splendor. Such a conception, I think, fitly typifies the 
past career and present surroundings of our distin- 
guished colleague, in whose honor we have assembled 
to-night. 

Once more extending my congratulations and best 
wishes to Dr. Busey, with the hope that he may be with 
us for many years yet to come, I now proceed to the 
first of the regular toasts : " Dr. Busey, President of the 
Medical Society" and call upon our genial Correspond- 
ing Secretary, Dr. T. C. Smith, to respond. 



"Dn Busey, President of the Medical Society/ 



By DR. THOMAS C. SMITH. 



Gentlemen : I am before you to fulfil a pleasant 
duty, and will endeavor to express the sentiments which 
animate the members of the Medical Society by this 
testimony of our appreciation of the worth of the Presi- 
dent of the Medical Society. 

Seventy-nine years have passed since the Medical 
Society was incorporated, and in that time thirty-three 
men have served as President. What the Society has 
done in all these years has, to some extent, been made 
a matter of history by the address of Dr. W. W. John- 
ston, delivered at the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 
Society, in 1894. 

In the list of names of Presidents I recall those who, 
in days gone by, were powers in this community. I love 
to think of those great men, for so I regard them. Hall, 
Borrows, Lieberman, Miller, Wm. P. Johnston, Toner, 
Tyler, Morgan, Johnson Eliot, Hagner, Palmer, Lee, 
Garnett, the lamented Ashford were among the number ; 
and I would ask if any society can produce a galaxy 
which will surpass these men in the attributes which go 
to make up character, ability, and usefulness ? Do we 
not remember what active, useful, faithful public servants 



these men were until their work was arrested by sick- 
ness or other disabilities. What an amount of work 
was accomplished by Joseph M. Toner ! What a restless, 
ever busy mortal was Johnson Eliot ! What a mine of 
experience and reminiscence did we possess in Joseph 
Borrows ! And of the others, can we not name them 
with enthusiasm, because of their sterling worth and of 
their labors to maintain the dignity and welfare of the 
medical profession ? Truly, the Society was in good 
hands when these men were at the helm. 

But we are here to-night to do honor to the living. 
We have not waited until Dr. Busey should have passed 
away so that resolutions of respect might be adopted. 
We salute him as the living, active, worthy President of 
the Society, and propose to tell him to his face what we 
think of him, for by so doing we may cheer him in his 
advancing years, and have him realize from day to day 
how his worth and work are appreciated. 

What has he done as President of the Society? He 
has never shirked the work that has been assigned to 
him, and, in fact, which he has taken upon himself, when 
it would have more fairly devolved upon younger and 
physically stronger men. When it was proposed, in 
1893, that the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Medical 
Society should be properly celebrated, who was it that 
was made Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, 
and whose intelligence and industry made that meeting a 
great success ? Samuel C. Busey. When it was deemed 
essential that the President of the Medical Society of 
the year 1894, whose duty it would be to preside at 
the anniversary, should be one who possessed the dig- 
nity, intelligence, patience, capacity, and ability to do 
credit to the Society, and who had the confidence of all, 



who was unanimously chosen to fill that office ? Samuel 
C. Busey. And the Society has shown its good sense 
and appreciation of faithful service by keeping him in 
office ever since. When important business pertaining 
to the interest of the profession had to be prepared for 
presentation to Congress ; when it was necessary to 
stand between the tyranny of the courts of law and 
the physician, jealous of his honor in maintaining invio- 
late the confidences of his patients ; when the necessity 
of protecting the public against the spread of contagious 
diseases; when the "freaks" who infest the community 
raised the cry against vivisection and appealed to Con- 
gress to stop the work of the great humanitarians who 
are striving, by experiments on the lower animals, to 
devise means for protecting humanity from the fearful 
ravages of disease, and it was necessary to antagonize 
them and their work; when these and other measures 
needed a champion, to whom did all turn, and not vainly, 
for advice, support, and earnest work? Samuel C. Busey. 
A few years ago when a fearful accident placed the life 
of our friend in jeopardy, and we did not know whether 
we should ever see him at the Society again, deep was 
the sorrow of all ; but a kind Providence spared him, 
and our joy was full when we saw him coming into the 
meeting, walking on crutches. Pale, emaciated, feeble, 
he was at his post of duty when many others were 
resting at home, because they did not feel like coming 
out. There are a great many men in the profession 
who after reaching the age of fifty years, more or less, 
conclude that there is nothing for them to do but lead 
lives of "innocuous desuetude," so to speak, and they 
settle down and wait for death to come along and knock 
them on the head. Not so with our President. Good 




and bad weather finds him at the Society, encouraging, 
by his presence and words, those who are trying to make 
the meetings interesting and profitable. He is no drone, 
and does not encourage such. As President of the 
Society, he has looked after the interests of the young 
men, and encouraged them to take an active part in the 
work of the Society, by appointing them as essayists 
and on committees. He is and has been the friend of 
the young practitioner. 

Time will not permit me to say more. I have not 
indulged in fulsome flattery. I have spoken the truth, 
and you are all aware that it is only facts that I have 
given you. 

Life is worth living if it is lived well. I believe the 
life our worthy President has thus far lived has been 
worth living, because it has been actively spent in doing 
those things which were for the benefit of the profession 
and the community. 

Lacking physical vigor, as he now does, but with an 
active mind reaching out to find ways and means for 
furthering the interest of his fellow-beings, we can do 
no less than admire the indomitable will which dominates 
his frame. We extend to him our warmest greetings, 
and I trust that when it shall be his turn to approach the 
" Gates of the City," he may hear from another tongue 
than ours the plaudits with which we greet him to-night, 
"Good and faithful servant, well done." 



"Dr. Busey, Citizen and Sanitarian." 



By SURGEON-GENERAL GEORGE M. STERNBERG, 
U. S. ARMY. 



It gives me great pleasure to respond to the toast, 
" Dr. Busey as a Public-spirited Citizen," because I 
believe that the well-informed physician who interests 
himself in the general welfare of the community in which 
he lives may contribute more to the preservation of the 
health of his fellow-citizens than by his ministrations 
upon the sick. 

The speaker then reviewed Dr. Busey's valuable 
contributions to the literature of preventive medicine, 
referring to his address on "The Gathering, Packing, 
Transportation and Sale of Fresh Vegetables and Fruits," 
delivered at the annual meeting of the American Public 
Health Association, in Philadelphia, in 1874, and to his 
excellent essay on "Washington Malaria," published in 
the National Health Bulletin, in 1882, wherein he de- 
scribes not only the unsanitary local conditions which 
favor the development of malaria, but also indicated how 
these factors can be abated by reclaiming the river flats, 
providing subsoil drainage, and hastening the comple- 
tion of the sewer systems and the grading and improve- 
ment of streets, together with stringent regulations 
against uncemented cellars and basements. In this 
essay Dr. Busey advocated the extension of the Capitol 



Park south to the river shore, and its connection with 
the reclaimed flats along the Potomac, and many other 
sanitary reforms, as shown by one of his characteristic 
and terse sentences : " Straighten the channel of Rock 
Creek by cutting across the horseshoe bend at P Street; 
hide its filthy shores by an arch and open a park along 
its course ; empty the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal into 
the Potomac above the limits of Georgetown, and destroy 
the unsightly observation of this cesspool of filthy water 
and unsavory stenches." 

The speaker next referred to Dr. Busey's essay on 
"The Mortality of Young Children, its Causes and 
Prevention, and the Sanitary Care and Treatment of 
Children," published in 1881 ; "The Influence of the 
Constant Use of High-heeled French Shoes upon the 
Health and Form of the Female and upon the Relation 
of the Pelvic Organs," published in 1882 ; " The Natural 
Hygiene of Child-bearing Life;" his essay upon "The 
Wrongs of Craniotomy upon the Living Foetus," pub- 
lished in 1889, and his contributions to "Morbific and 
Infectious Milk," published in 1895. 

The speaker then reviewed Dr. Busey's achievements 
as President of the Medical Society and as Chairman of 
the Committee on Public Health, his work in urging on 
Congress the legislation necessary for placing the city 
of Washington in a satisfactory sanitary condition, and 
enumerated what had actually been accomplished in the 
way of sanitary legislation. He emphasized the fact 
that Dr. Busey's addresses before the Medical Society, 
the Board of Trade and other meetings had awakened 
the public and legislators to the necessity of an improved 
water supply and the prompt completion of the sewerage 
system. 



The speaker referred to Dr. Busey's deep interest in 
the medical profession, as shown by his efforts to secure 
a law regulating the practice of medicine in the District 
of Columbia, and the law relating to the testimony of 
physicians in the courts ; his zeal in opposing the anti- 
vivisection movement, and his leadership in the correc- 
tion of hospital and dispensary abuses. He also referred 
to Dr. Busey's connection with the hospitals and other 
public institutions in the city, as one of the founders of 
the Children's and of the Garfield Hospitals, and one of 
the staunchest advocates for the establishment of a hos- 
pital for contagious diseases. 

I have not attempted to give a complete review of Dr. 
Busey's life-long labors as a public-spirited citizen, but 
enough has been said to show that his fellow-citizens owe 
him a debt of gratitude for the intelligent and zealous 
activity which he has displayed in all matters relating to 
the sanitary and material interests of the city of Wash- 
ington. 

[Unfortunately the manuscript of General Sternberg's address was lost, and it is 
impossible to reproduce his remarks in full.] 





/$■<?<$- 



Dr* Busey, Physician, Author and Teacher/' 



By DR. GEORGE M. KOBER. 

Mr. Chairman, Our Honored Guest, Friends and 
Colleagues : There is something so remarkable in the 
career of the man whom we honor to-night that it may 
not be without a lesson to inquire into the causes of his 
success as a physician, author and teacher. 

Whoever takes up Dr. Busey's Souvenir and looks at 
his portrait, the original of which was taken just fifty 
years ago, cannot fail to be impressed that the features 
are those of a refined, studious young man, full of 
seriousness, erudition and good sense — qualities which 
had been carefully nursed by a Christian mother and 
ripened under the guidance of the great teacher and 
physician, George Bacon Wood. 

Dr. Mastin, of Mobile, Alabama, in a recent publica- 
tion, in speaking of his classmate, says : " Busey was 
an especial favorite of Dr. Wood, and even in his 
youth gave promise of the distinction at which he has 
arrived." . . . "Although reserved and dignified, he was 
liked and respected by all who knew him." 

The concluding sentence of this character-sketch of 
Busey at the age of twenty is true of him to-day. 




Gifted by nature with qualities which he carefully 
cultivated, Dr. Busey, from the day of his graduation, 
was imbued with the greatness and responsibility of 
his calling, and fully realized that, apart from scientific 
attainments, the successful physician must possess purity 
of character, a high standard of moral excellence, and, 
above all, "a conscience to adjudge the penalties of 
ignorance and neglect." 

We know by his biography that the moderate income 
which he inherited was scarcely sufficient to defray the 
necessary expenses of his education, and yet, at the age 
of twenty-one, he assumed the responsibilities of matri- 
mony and established a modest home. Realizing, how- 
ever, his obligation to shield his helpmate from future 
want, and evidently believing that every man can 
hammer out his own fortune, he set out in life deter- 
mined to accomplish this purpose. 

His brilliant professional career and the distinction 
which he has achieved are at once the badge and 
reward of all the higher and nobler attributes of the 
true physician. 

In the practice of his profession he "united tender- 
ness with firmness, condescension with authority," bore 
in silence his cares, with dignity his responsibilities, and 
with humility his disappointments. These qualities, 
together with a steadfast devotion to humanity, secured 
for him the confidence, gratitude and respect of his 
patients. 

When, fifty years ago, Dr. Busey stood on the 
threshold of his professional life, he realized, too, that 
to be worthy of the high calling he had chosen, study 
must fill his every moment; to be successful in life, 
he must unceasingly study ; and to gain admittance into 



. 



the Temple of Fame — study, honesty and truth must be 
his watchwords. 

How well he performed this task is shown by a list 
of over 163 distinct contributions to medical literature, 
besides his miscellaneous publications, such as his ad- 
dresses, his Reminiscences and Souvenir. The world is 
indebted to him for his work on Congenital Occlusion 
and Dilatation of Lymph Channels, and his masterly ex- 
position of The Wrongs of Craniotomy up07i the Living 
Fcetus — writings which have long since become classic. 
Of his other contributions, many of which are encyclo- 
paedic, I will only say that he never wrote unless he had 
something to say, and he said it well. 

.His Pen Pictures of the City of Washington in the 
Past, indited at the age of seventy, and while in feeble 
health, is a monument to his literary industry, patriotism 
and love for truth. 

It was my good fortune to meet our honored guest 
just twenty-five years ago as Professor of Diseases of 
Children in a Post Graduate course then inaugurated. 
One of the blessings which resulted from his connection 
with this school and the Department of Diseases of 
Children, at the Columbia Hospital, was the establish- 
ment of the Children's Hospital in this city in 1870. In 
fact, it may be truly said that he was the founder of 
Pediatric Medicine in this city. Although this school 
was characterized by some as an over-ambitious attempt 
in medical education, history shows that the promoters, 
of which he was one, simply planned many years ahead 
of their contemporaries. Nor can I refrain here from 
declaring that whatever success many of us have at- 
tained is due to the precepts and example of Dr. 
Busey as a teacher and a man ; while his steadfast 



purpose to keep abreast with the progress of medical sci- 
ence, even now, is an example worthy of our emulation. 

Our honored guest, notwithstanding his natural re- 
serve and austerity, has always been the friend and 
leader of the struggling young practitioner. Early in 
the seventies he devoted his energies to the election of 
young men as delegates to the American Medical Asso- 
ciation. I was present at a meeting of the Medical Asso- 
ciation in May, 1874, when he spoke on his motion to 
revise the Code of Ethics and Regulations so as to con- 
form to the Code of the American Medical Association. 
He ably supported the effort of Dr. J. Ford Thompson 
to secure consultations for female physicians and physi- 
cians of African descent, maintaining that "consultations 
were for the benefit of and belonged to the patient." 

For similar reasons he advocated the removal of the 
restriction placed upon professional intercourse with 
army and navy surgeons stationed in this city. He 
vigorously protested against the admission of medical 
men employed as clerks in the departments, "not be- 
cause they were necessarily incompetent, as had been 
charged by some, but from the nature of their em- 
ployment they could not be thoroughly identified with 
the profession." At the same meeting he objected to 
the establishment of a maximum fee, and insisted that 
every physician should have the right to regulate his 
charges by the amount, character, and importance of 
the service and the ability of the patient to pay for 
the same. 

All these and other measures of reform he prose- 
cuted with his characteristic vigor and tenacity, and 
although his opponents, smarting at times under his 
incisive sarcasm, were pleased to speak of him as 






" Busey, the dominant," no one questioned the justice 
of his cause, and in 1875 he was elected President of 
the Association. 

We have simply to recall his leadership in the recent 
movement toward the correction of abuses in medical 
charities to appreciate that Dr. Busey, whether in the 
Chair, in the committee-room, or on the floor, has uni- 
formly contended for the rights, honor and dignity of 
the medical profession. 

There is no doubt that a large share of his profes- 
sional success is due to a careful study and strict observ- 
ance of the Code of Ethics of the American Medical 
Association. He was present when it was first pro- 
claimed in the city of Philadelphia, in 1847, anc * his 
youthful mind must have been deeply impressed with 
the lofty tenets in which the duties of physicians to their 
patients, to the profession and the public are prescribed. 

That he has discharged his duties to his patients is 
shown by the universal esteem in which he is held in the 
community. That he has discharged his obligations to 
the profession is evidenced by his sixth re-election as 
President of the Medical Society, and that he has filled 
every position of honor and trust which the profession 
of this city and the Association of American Physicians 
could confer upon him. That he has discharged his 
duties to the public is evinced in his contributions to 
preventive medicine, and the fact that during the past 
eight years he, with his able lieutenants in the Commit- 
tee on Legislation, has been instrumental in framing 
and enacting seven laws in the interest of public health. 

Indeed, the history of sanitation in this city is insepar- 
ably connected with that of the Medical Society and 
Dr. Busey as its President. 



Yielding now, however, to the resistless influence of 
time and space, permit me, my loved and honored friend, 
in the name of the medical profession, to renew our 
hearty congratulations upon your golden wedding-day 
of professional life, united with the fondest hope that 
health and peace shall be yours till life shall end. 

Hygeia will attend when years run trembling down 
With honor's wreath your whitened hairs to crown, 

and Minerva Medica will usher you through the portals 
beyond, and proudly but reverently present you to the 
Supreme Healer of the universe as a type of the true 
physician. 




RESPONSE BY DR. BUSEY. 

Mr. President, Friends and Colleagues : I have 
addressed you as friends and colleagues that I might give 
expression to the high regard in which I hold those who 
have honored me. An occasion like this is so unusual 
that one cannot fail to appreciate the distinction which 
can only come to the few who may survive the fiftieth 
anniversary of their graduation in medicine. When to 
this are added the many expressions of the good-will of 
my colleagues, I need not tell you how grateful I am. If 
I should attempt to measure my gratitude in words I fear 
a loosened tongue would run riot in the futile effort. 

I am admonished that I must not trespass too heavily 
upon my strength, but there are some things that I must 
say even at the risk of unpleasant results. 

When I came to the Presidency of the Medical Society 
in 1894 I made two resolutions: First, to make every 
effort in my power to promote the scientific progress of 
the Society ; and, secondly, to encourage the profession 
to assert itself in all matters pertaining to sanitation and 
preventive medicine. How far these purposes have been 
accomplished history must determine. I cannot, how- 
ever, claim all the merit which has been so generously 
bestowed upon me for what has been done. To Dr. 
Smith much is due. He has collected and arranged the 
material and prepared the programmes for the weekly 
meetings, which I have executed, so that to him must be 




given the larger share of the praise for the scientific 
progress of the Society during the past four years. I 
must also share with the Committee on Legislation the 
success which has crowned our efforts in State medicine, 
in securing for this community so much in the line of 
preventive medicine. No one of that committee has 
faltered in the good work or shirked his duty, but I can- 
not omit mention of Drs. W. W. Johnston and Z. T. 
Sowers, whose very valuable services have contributed 
so much to promote the sanitation of the city. The 
Medical Society has, during the past five years, accom- 
plished more good in this line than had been done during 
the previous one hundred years, and it is hoped, with 
the same unity and force of purpose, the progress of 
State medicine and public hygiene in this Capital City 
will be coeval with the development of scientific sani- 
tation. 

To the many kind expressions of good-will and com- 
mendation I cannot respond. They come to one who is 
not free from disappointment, regret and sorrow ; to one 
not free from mistakes, who has neglected and thrown 
away opportunities. The chief regret of my life is that 
I have accomplished so little. With a prosperous begin- 
ning and fair success, I was so absorbed in the routine 
duties of a busy practitioner that I failed to realize the 
importance and magnitude of the duties of good citizen- 
ship which are incumbent upon every practitioner of 
medicine. If I have, during later years, sought to lead, 
direct and unite my colleagues in efforts to discharge 
their public duties, I have only partially fulfilled my obli- 
gations to you and to this community. I live in the hope 
that some successor will take up this line of work where 
I may leave it, and prosecute it with vigor and energy, 



to the end that our beloved profession may never again 
neglect or fail to assert its prerogative to advise, teach 
and lead the people in all measures pertaining to the 
preservation of health and the eradication of the causes 
of preventable disease. 

I recall with great pleasure the success of my efforts 
to revise the regulations of the Medical Association of 
this District ; the abrogation of the local Code of Ethics, 
which in some respects was oppressive and antagonistic 
to the Code of Ethics of the American Medical Associa- 
tion ; the restoration of the entente cordiale between the 
local practitioners and the Medical Staffs of the Army 
and Navy, which had become strained, and the extension 
of the privileges of consultation to female physicians and 
physicians of African descent. The extension of this 
privilege to the classes named was hotly contested by 
many conspicuous members of the profession at that 
period. In this controversy I followed the lead of my 
distinguished friend, Dr. J. Ford Thompson, to whom is 
due the credit of initiating the reform, which, after a pro- 
tracted controversy, was accomplished. 

I have referred to opportunities wasted and thrown 
away, in that I failed to conceive the possibilities of a 
long life in a scientific pursuit. I was born and passed 
my boyhood life on a farm in a neighborhood of quiet 
and frugal people, who accepted the conditions and cur- 
rent events of life without discontent, free from, the 
struggles, aspirations and activities of business and 
intellectual occupations. School-life, study, and, later, 
professional duty, filled the measure of my coveted ac- 
quirements. I failed to see the roadway open to all who 
might strive to attain distinction and honor, and when, 
through the partiality of professional friends, honors and 



opportunities came to me,. I threw them away in fretful 
discontent, because of the interruption to the plodding 
routine of an active and busy life. Not until I had passed 
middle life did I realize the possibility of some accom- 
plishment in the line of scientific work that might entitle 
me to a place among those who have contributed some- 
thing to the common fund of useful knowledge. So that 
whatever reputation I may have acquired and may leave 
behind me has come through the labors of the later 
period of my life, and I am here to-night, as your guest, 
to accept the congratulations of those of my colleagues 
who have assembled to commemorate the fiftieth anni- 
versary of my professional life. 

In conclusion, I again thank you for this graceful com- 
pliment, and assure you of my gratitude for the many 
kind words spoken to me to-night. 




Responses to the Invitation of the 
Toastmaster. 



REMARKS BY Z. T. SOWERS. 

Mr. Toastmaster, Our Honored Guest and Gen- 
tlemen : You know, of course, that this call for a speech 
is a great surprise to me, and has caught me without 
any preparation whatever. I am greatly pleased, how- 
ever, to be called upon, as I desire to express to you the 
pleasure it affords me to be with you on this interesting 
and memorable occasion. To celebrate the fiftieth anni- 
versary of one's professional life rarely comes to any- 
one. When such an event is reached in the life of one 
whom we all love and honor so much as we do Dr. 
Busey, it becomes truly both interesting and memorable. 
During the past six or eight years it has been my very 
great pleasure to be quite intimately associated with Dr. 
Busey in a variety of ways, but more closely associated 
in the work of the Committee on Legislation, of which I 
have the honor to be a member. With the great labor 
and the happy results reached by this committee you 
are all familiar. The Doctor has been most kind and 
considerate in attributing to us much of his success ; but, 
although we did what we could, the credit of the result 
should be awarded to him. He alluded to his failing 
strength; but while we appreciate that he may not be as 
strong as formerly, yet we who have been more closely 
associated with him are glad to know and relate that he 

d 49 



is not so debilitated as his remarks would lead us to 
infer. For the comfort of those present I wish to state 
that I have had an opportunity of testing his condition 
to-night when I met him in the reception-room. He told 
me how feeble he was becoming ; whereupon I thought 
I would test his strength by asking something of the 
Poison Bill now before Congress. If you could have 
heard his reply, how he analyzed it as a bill, how he 
related the different stages through which it had passed, 
and the line of argument used by him in replying to the 
opposition of the Pharmaceutical Association of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, you would, I am sure, agree with me 
in thinking that he is far from feeble. It has been re- 
marked by a number of those who have spoken how 
much the Doctor has done to raise the Medical Society 
to its present exalted standing among the medical 
societies of this country. I fully appreciate how much 
he has done in this direction, and how much we are in- 
debted to him for his great efforts, and sincerely believe 
that it will be greatly to the advancement of the Society 
if we can induce him to remain its President so long as 
he may live. 



REMARKS BY DR. JOS. TABER JOHNSON. 

Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen : Being a member 
of the Committee of Arrangements I was careful to leave 
my name off the list of speakers in to-night's entertain- 
ment, and, therefore, think the toastmaster has exceeded 
his duties in calling upon me for a speech. While he has 

50 



exceeded his duties in one respect he has not come up 
to the requirements of the occasion in others, inasmuch 
as he has called upon me, an unsuspecting citizen, to 
reply to a toast without giving him any toast or senti- 
ment to reply to. It is fair to suppose, however, that 
those who have called upon me expect that the general 
inspiration of the occasion will furnish the theme for 
remarks. 

Dr. Busey's abilities and reputation have been fully 
discussed in nearly all the directions in which he has 
been useful, except in the special field in which I have 
known him most intimately. While I have not been a 
member of those highly important committees which he 
has led to victory over the Potomac and Anacostia Flats, 
through the impure water supply and insufficient sewer- 
age of the city ; while I did not accompany him on his 
campaign against the quacks and impostors and in secur- 
ing the Medical Practice Act, or in the bombardment 
of the anti-vivisectionists and the food adulterers, and 
various other campaigns for the upholding of the honor 
and dignity of our noble profession and the protection 
of the community — I say while I have not been a mem- 
ber of the committees under the lead of Dr. Busey for 
the accomplishment of these beneficent purposes — I 
have been associated with him more or less intimately 
for the past twenty-five years in the obstetrical and 
gynecological branches of the profession. Dr. Busey 
and I were together at the foundation of the American 
Gynecological Society twenty-three years ago, and have 
been side by side in many of the discussions and social 
functions. He was at one time Vice-President of the 
Society, and would have been President of it to-day had 
he not resigned his membership. In consideration of 




his distinguished abilities the Society, at its last meeting 
in Washington, upon my nomination, elected him an 
Honorary Fellow. I was present with Dr. Busey and 
others at the foundation of the Washington Obstetrical 
and Gynecological Society. He was its first President, 
was re-elected a fourth time, and has had much to do 
with shaping its policy into a successful and useful 
society. His known ability in parliamentary matters 
obtained for him from Dr. Fordyce Barker, of New 
York, the soubriquet of " Busey, the parliamentarian," in 
the American Gynecological Society. I have often won- 
dered what Dr. Busey and others did fifty years ago, 
when he entered the profession, with some of the ques- 
tions the successful settlement of which has added so 
much to the renown of obstetrics, gynecology and ab- 
dominal surgery. He' practised for a number of years 
without those means which we have at the present day 
for bringing about an antiseptic environment in mid- 
wifery and gynecological surgery. It could hardly have 
entered his dreams fifty years ago that the mortality of 
childbed would have been reduced to one-sixth of one 
per cent., and that of ovariotomy to ten per cent, and 
less during his lifetime, which he has actually observed in 
the practice of obstetricians and gynecologists in this city. 
He has had the satisfaction of seeing the unnatural and 
abhorrent practice of craniotomy upon the living child, 
which he was among the first to condemn, gradually but 
surely give way in the onward march of abdominal sur- 
gery, until Caesarean section has come now to be the 
operation of election. 

Dr. Busey was among the first to recognize sepsis as 
the chief cause of puerperal septicaemia, or puerperal 
fever, as it was then called ; and in a public address, when 



Chairman of the Obstetric Section of the American 
Medical Association, called attention to the great bene- 
fits sure to follow from the more thorough practice of 
antiseptic midwifery. I remember hearing him read 
before the American Gynecological Society, in Sep- 
tember, 1879, a most elaborate paper on the " Pathology 
of the Cicatrices of Pregnancy." He was also among 
the first to discuss on the affirmative side the unity of 
membranous croup and diphtheria. 

I have known many instances of the most absolute 
confidence of Dr. Busey's patients in his advice. He 
has also enjoyed to a remarkable degree the confidence 
of his professional brethren, who have often sought his 
counsel. I am very glad to be here to-night and to join 
with the numerous friends and admirers of Dr. Busey in 
congratulating him upon his already long life of useful- 
ness and many well-earned honors, and to wish for him 
good health and happiness for many years to come. 



REMARKS BY DR. W. W. JOHNSTON. 

Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen : There is one 
phase of Dr. Busey's public work that has not been 
alluded to this evening, and it is one which is well de- 
serving of record. I mean the part he has played in 
connection with the various hospitals of the District. 
Looking back over many years I can now see more 
clearly than ever that Dr. Busey's efforts were always 
directed to increasing the influence of the medical man 
in hospital management. 




There have been many contests in the history of hos- 
pital work in this city, but in all of them Dr. Busey stood 
fairly and openly for the rights and dignity of the medi- 
cal profession in hospital control. 

It is necessary and unavoidable that hospital boards 
should be largely composed of non-medical men, but it 
is not right, in the discussion and decision of matters 
requiring expert knowledge, that physicians should have 
little or no part ; matters of administrative detail that 
deal with the medical work of the hospital can only be 
properly understood by physicians, and it is they who 
should decide all questions that concern the care of the 
patients, their medical and surgical treatment, the divi- 
sion of labor in the wards, and every matter that is of a 
purely technical nature. In mixed boards, where the 
medical staff is represented, the opportunity is given for 
the presentation of the medical aspect of medical ques- 
tions, and the board can decide with knowledge ; but in 
boards composed exclusively of laymen no such oppor- 
tunity is afforded, and only confusion and mismanage- 
ment result, to the great detriment of the hospital. It 
is natural that there should be differences of opinion, but 
in the free discussion of such differences, where every 
side can be heard, the true and best course is apt to be 
followed. 

It is in furtherance of the best interests of hospitals 
that Dr. Busey has a clear record, and he deserves the 
thanks of the medical profession for his unswerving 
efforts to secure a just and fair measure of control for 
the physician, and for his opposition to all faulty methods 
of management. 

But much remains to be done. It is for the men of the 
present and future to agitate this question until justice 



is secured, until the man who is most clearly interested 
in the beneficent work of the hospital has a just recogni- 
tion of the dignity and importance of his position. 



REMARKS BY ASSISTANT SURGEON-GENERAL 
C. H. ALDEN, U. S. ARMY. 

Mr. Chairman : I had no idea you would call on me 
to-night, and I am therefore quite unprepared to speak 
fittingly on this occasion. One word I would like to say, 
however, in regard to our distinguished guest, in which I 
am sure I voice the sentiments of my colleagues of the 
medical service — a word of sincere appreciation for the 
part he has taken in making the members of these ser- 
vices in the city feel at home among you, and in bring- 
ing together the civil, military and naval members of the 
profession. 

Dr. Busey has told us in his interesting memoirs (if 
I remember rightly) that military and naval surgeons 
were among the founders, or at least the early members, 
of the District Medical Society. Gradually, in the 
course of time, there grew up, I will not say a less cor- 
dial feeling, for the relation between the civil and mili- 
ar tary physician has always been friendly, but I may say a 
less intimate professional association. But I am inclined 
to think the fault, as well as the loss, has been chiefly on 
the part of the members of the two services. To Dr. 
Busey is largely due a change in this respect. The mili- 
tary and naval surgeons have been made members by 
invitation of the District Medical Society, encouraged to 



read papers and join in discussions, a privilege which I 
assure you has been most heartily appreciated. Social 
intercourse is, I think, freer than it used to be. 

Dr. Busey, helpful in every measure that promises to 
advance his beloved profession, has taken a kindly in- 
terest in the Army Medical School, and honored us by 
delivering the address to the class a year ago. 

I join most heartily in wishing Dr. Busey long-contin- 
ued health and happiness. 



REMARKS BY DR. A. A. HOEHLING, U. S. NAVY. 

Gentlemen: As a representative of the Navy Med- 
ical Corps, I indorse most heartily the sentiments 
expressed by Dr. Alden, and I thank you for the oppor- 
tunity of saying that I am proud to be an alumnus of the 
same medical school which graduated Professor Samuel 
C. Busey half a century ago ; and I wish to state that, 
while the venerable University of Pennsylvania reflects 
honor upon her graduates, Dr. Busey confers honor 
upon her. 



REMARKS BY DR. SAMUEL ADAMS. 

Mr. Toastmaster : I had congratulated myself that 
this would be one meeting of the Medical Society when 
the Secretary could keep still ; but, as you have called 
on me, I cannot refrain from saying a few words in praise 
of our guest. 



Dr. Busey was my preceptor, and I had ample oppor- 
tunity for learning how to work. Soon after my gradua- 
tion at the West Virginia University, in 1875, I entered 
Dr. Busey's office as a student. During my college life 
it seemed as if I had learned to study ; but this belief was 
soon dispelled when I was brought face to face with my 
preceptor's untiring energies and methodical ways. 
Whatever capacity I now possess for hard work I attrib- 
ute to the schooling received under Dr. Busey's guid- 
ance. That Dr. Busey has been an earnest worker, and 
that his labors have always tended toward the elevation 
of our profession, need no emphasis from me. I trust 
that his just and guiding hand will not soon cease to 
direct the younger men of the profession in that road 
which leads to success. 



REMARKS BY DR. ROBERT REYBURN. 

Mr. Toastmaster : I am heartily glad to have been 
called on to say something on this occasion, for I say it 
from an entirely different stand-point from any of the 
speakers who have preceded me. Most of those who 
have spoken have been either pupils of Dr. Busey or 
at least intimately connected with him during the early 
years of their professional lives. 

It was not so with me ; in fact, our first acquaintance 
was made when we were direct antagonists. The Doctor 
and I differed very widely on political and other questions 
from 1872 to 1880 ; in fact, we do not agree on all things 
now. But this world would be a very stupid place if 




everybody agreed in everything with everybody else ; and 
whatever antagonism we once mutually felt has long been 
converted into sincere and warm friendship. On this 
happy occasion there is but one point I wish especially 
to dwell upon, and that is the efforts and labors of Dr. 
Busey in the direction of the elevation of the medical 
profession of the District of Columbia. 

There can be no questioning the statement that Dr. 
Busey has done far more toward this than any other 
member of the medical profession in the District. These 
labors will always remain as his monument, and that he 
may remain with us many years to see the good results 
of his work is my sincere desire and prayer. 



REMARKS BY DR. C. H. A. KLEINSCHMIDT. 

Mr. Chairman : The eloquent and pre-eminently truth- 
ful remarks to which we have listened with so much 
pleasure and the heartiest approval are the sentiments 
that are harbored in the breast of every member of our 
local society now gathered around the festive board in 
honor of our distinguished and beloved guest. But they 
are also shared by hosts of eminent professional col- 
leagues in our country and abroad. Far be it from me 
to try the impossible, to add one iota to the expressions 
of high appreciation and devotion made to-night. But I 
would ask leave to recall a scene of long ago, so long 
that I do not care to confess to the number of years since 
passed. My first acquaintance by sight with Dr. Busey 
happened during my student days, in front of the office 



of my preceptor, the late Dr. John M. Snyder, who was 
out on the pavement ready to make his daily rounds. 
Somehow, during the conversation between the two gen- 
tlemen, I was strongly attracted by the stranger, and 
began to form certain conclusions. The brief conver- 
sation ended, and after the parting Dr. Snyder turned 
to me, and perhaps noting the questioning eyes, said : 
"That is Dr. Busey. What a great pity that a man 
of such prominent parts and professional ability should 
have retired from a successful and active career to the 
quiet life of a country gentleman." 1 

These remarks impressed me greatly, because spoken 
with earnestness and conviction ; and somehow or other 
the thought of Dr. Busey and his voluntary retirement 
and relinquishment of professional success would again 
and again rise in my mind. 

There is, however, one point, not broached upon by 
any of the speakers to-night, which, to my thinking, 
affords the best proof, if indeed proof were wanting, of 
the indomitable energy always displayed in any scientific 
or other work, and, of course, carried to a definite and 
successful end. I refer to the extensive and critical in- 
vestigation into the lymphatic system, from the physio- 
logical and pathological stand-point, undertaken by him 
a number of years ago, resulting in two monographs, 
embodying a collection, classification, description, and 
grouping of striking diseases and anomalies of the lym- 
phatic system, a subject which at that time was receiv- 

1 Dr. Kleinschinidt's reference to the interview between Drs. Busey and Snyder may be 
misleading in the suggestion that Dr. Busey had retired from the practice of medicine. 
It is true he had changed his residence from the city to one in the suburbs north of 
Georgetown, on the Woodly I,ane Road, known as Belvoir, but he was actively engaged 
in the practice of medicine in the neighborhood and contiguous country, which became 
so onerous that he was induced to return to the city, where the exactions of a busy pro- 
fessional life were less so.— G. M. K. 

59 



ing rather scant attention by the general practitioner. 
This extensive inquiry, of the most searching character, 
originated in his observation of a congenital case of a 
rare form of lymphatic disease, which was followed closely 
during life and cleared up and verified by necropsy. 

Dr. Busey then conceived the idea of collecting from 
the medical literature of all countries cases of lymphatic 
diseases having a similar bearing to the one observed by 
himself. The task, deemed at first comparatively easy, 
soon became almost Herculean, in view of the class of 
literature found necessary to be sifted, and might have 
appalled many an ardent investigator. Not so with our 
friend. As the task grew and difficulties doubled and 
trebled, energy and zeal increased in direct ratio, until 
final success was gained in the production of the two 
works mentioned, embodying practically all recorded 
cases, but also teeming in important critical deductions 
and suggestions by their author. 

The work of Dr. Busey is of special personal interest 
to me, because his kindness placed me in a position in 
which a better insight to his indomitable energy in scien- 
tific pursuit was afforded than would otherwise have been 
possible. 

While in course of time the admirable characteristics 
of our honored guest unfolded themselves to me more 
and more, our acquaintance grew into friendship. There 
is one episode which deserves the undying gratitude of 
our profession. As a witness — perhaps the only one here 
to-night — of this striking incident, it seems eminently 
proper that it should be referred to on this occasion, 
especially as it seems to have been forgotten by many. 

In the years of local confusion and strife succeeding 
the late war between the States our Medical Society 

60 



became involved in a very serious feud with the then all- 
powerful Board of Health, resulting in a schism which 
endangered its existence, because of the determined 
attempts on the part of our enemies to induce Congress 
to repeal our charter. Defeated in this through the 
defence offered by Dr. Busey, as a member of our Com- 
mittee, they still, nothing daunted, continued the heated 
controversy, and carried the contention to the American 
Medical Association, as the court of last resort, at its 
meeting in Washington in 1870. Charges, that would 
have been serious if well founded, were preferred against 
the Society, and a most determined effort made, and all 
means in their power were employed, to have our dele- 
gation excluded from membership in the Association. 

Although prevented by service on one of the local com- 
mittees from witnessing the struggle in the session of the 
Association, and therefore only an anxious and deeply 
concerned outsider, I yet did not fail to be informed by 
eye-witnesses of the prominent and leading part taken by 
Dr. Busey in that action, which again led to the defeat of 
the opposition ; but in the light of subsequent events this 
was rather a preliminary skirmish to the final battle, for 
the attack was renewed in Philadelphia, where it remained 
for the meeting in 1872 to cause the final overthrow of 
the factional opposition by refusing to admit to mem- 
bership those who had proved enemies of our Society 
and attempted to destroy it by a repeal of its charter. 

They came to Philadelphia apparently sure of success, 
and, if appearances did not deceive, it seemed to our dele- 
gates that the case would be decided by a body by no 
means favorably inclined toward us. Said one of my col- 
leagues, the late Dr. Boyle, judging from what he had 
heard in conversation of and with members of the Asso- 



ciation, "I am afraid they will beat us ;" and in very truth, 
as the case was presented and discussion went on, his 
words seemed to be verified, for the temper of the meet- 
ing seemed to favor the opposition. But things were 
changed, and how completely was indifference or worse 
transformed ! Can those who composed our small and 
anxious delegation at that decisive meeting ever forget 
the moment when our then Chairman, our guest of honor 
to-night, ascended the platform to address the vast audi- 
ence. A hush fell on the house. Then he began quietly, 
calmly, and with a mien that spoke of a righteous cause. 
His speech was clear, incisive, and logical, and at every 
point presented our case with a force as convincing as 
truth alone can proclaim, and fairly demolished and an- 
nihilated the accusations laid against the Society, and 
any and all so-called facts brought forward to sustain 
them. How can the witnesses of that scene, which raised 
our spirits from despondency to hope, ever forget the 
storm of applause when our leader closed his speech, 
and the overwhelming vote by which the delegates of 
the opposition were refused admission, nor the feeling 
of relief and enthusiasm which hailed a victory verily 
snatched from the very jaws of defeat by the matchless 
argument of Dr. Busey ? 

In harmony with his undaunted spirit, which urged him 
to defend single-handed an almost forlorn cause and de- 
feat its enemies in a fair, square, and successful struggle, 
is the magnanimity which he extended to them later, 
when, convinced of their errors, they applied for re- 
admission to fellowship. Forgiving the past, he was the 
first to smoothe the way to their rehabilitation. These 
two striking incidents have been to me always the bright 
particular spots to which my mind turned when review- 



ing any personal reminiscences of Dr. Busey, for they 
illustrate most positively the brave, noble and generous 
qualities of his character. 

Closing, I can only express the sincere wish, re-echoed, 
doubtless, by us all, that he may still be with us for 
many a year to come, an honor and ornament of our 
noble profession, a useful, ever alert, public-spirited 
citizen. 




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